Sunday, September 18, 2011

News Links, September 19, 2011

"'Greece's imminent default is assured,' Carl B. Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York, wrote in an e-mail Sunday. 'Without an injection of cash within the next weeks, the nation will run out of resources to service its debt.'"

"Hundreds of villagers in eastern China have been demonstrating in recent days against pollution they say is caused by a solar panel factory, with some protesters storming the compound and overturning vehicles, local authorities and residents said Sunday."

"DOGGED by a severe and prolonged gas supply shortage, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) shares dipped to a low of RM5.01 last Thursday, a level not seen since April 2009, as worry mounts over a financial hit the utility giant is staring at."

"Experts say the cascading blackout that put millions of Westerners in the dark last week was no surprise: Major power outages have more than doubled in the last decade."

Trains stopped for lack of fuel (Pakistan)"The Pakistan Railways on Saturday experienced severe fuel shortages and the utility had to halt train operations on its various routes. It was learnt that the Pakistan State Oil stopped the supply of high speed diesel to the cash-strapped department when the Railways' cheques, amounting to Rs300 million, bounced back."

"Maggot therapy, a medical technique since Biblical times, declined after antibiotics came into use in the 1940s. The treatment is now undergoing a resurgence as a potential cheap alternative for patients with wounds infected with drug- resistant bacteria."

"'They continue to buy notes and bonds every month because they've got so much money,' said David Ader, head of government bond strategy in Stamford, Connecticut, at CRT Capital Group LLC. 'If they stopped buying, they wouldn't have much else to do with the cash, so they buy.'"

America's costly war machine"To date, the United States has spent more than $2.5 trillion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon spending spree that accompanied it and a battery of new homeland security measures instituted after Sept. 11."How have we paid for this? Entirely through borrowing."

"The state is on the hook for billions of dollars' worth of pension benefits owed to police officers, firefighters, teachers, judges and state workers. But the money's not there. Projected investment gains never happened. "